in discord. I spent twelve years not denying and believing nothing, despairing of the truth, not even believing in God. No proof to me seemed evident." This loss of the faith was accompanied by uneasiness; Charles found himself to be "all selfishness, all impiousness, all evil desire, I was as though distraught".

On 11 April 1874, his cousin Marie married Olivier de Bondy. A few months later, on 12 August 1874, Charles obtained his baccalauréat with the distinction "mention bien" (equivalent